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Police searching for Coral Gables home invasion suspect

CORAL GABLES, FLA. (WSVN) - A Coral Gables couple was ambushed inside their own home by an armed robber, and now police are searching for the subject.

The couple said they were robbed several years ago. Now the victims are fed up and said they want to move.

The couple came home to the robber in their home after going out to eat at Cafe Versailles last week.

Police released surveillance video Thursday that captured the suspect in the parking lot of Cafe Versailles on July 20. He could be seen wearing a Nike baseball cap and bowed his head to cover his face when he realized a camera nearby was rolling.

Officials believe the man followed the couple from Cafe Versailles back to their home on the 800 block of Navarre Avenue. “A person of interest, our subject, was casing them out at Versailles and followed them back home to their house,” said said Coral Gables Police Officer Kelly Denham.

“The subject followed the husband and withdrew a small semi-automatic handgun and pointed it at him. You now have the wife walking in and seeing a strange person in their house with a gun pointed at them and demanding their jewelry,” said Denham. “They surrendered their jewelry to keep from getting hurt.”

The suspect was driving a four-door sedan. Denham said, “The subject then fled from the house in what we believe is to be a 2015/2017 Mercedes-Benz Z Class white in color with dark tinted windows.”

A neighbor said she spoke with the victims shortly after the robbery. “She was very shaken up. I mean, she put her house up for sale the next day,” she said.

She continued to say that the neighborhood as a whole is now on edge. “Ever since that happened, I’ve seen more police presence in the neighborhood, but I’d like to be more consistent, not just right after an incident happened,” the neighbor said.

“They’ve been a victim of a robbery once before,” Denham said, “and so it’s traumatic enough to go through it once, but this is the second time they’ve been through it, and that’s why we are determined and asking for the public’s help in identifying the subject so that we can go and arrest him.”

If you have any information on this robbery, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $1,000 reward.

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